LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
let me try to answer these one by one:You will need at least a 4 year degree, most likely. It's well worth it if you really enjoy the work. Nothing in the public sector pays as well as the private sector.If you've spent all your life in a morgue, you probably already know a few forensic scientists. The best thing to do is talk to them and see what the requirements are in the places you want to work.
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There are numerous techniques for obtaining fingerprints from surfaces--black powders, colored powders, alternate light, superglue, dye staining. Once you can visualize the print, comparing one to another is done by noting all the information (where ridges end, divide, form a dot, have a scar, etc.) in one pattern and comparing it to another print's pattern. This can be done by a computer so that thousands to millions of prints can be searched quickly, all day, every day, all over the world, but is always confirmed by human beings. Despite what you see on TV!
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If there was semen on the toilet seat and it was still wet and sticky enough to stick to skin and then be transferred to underwear, then I suppose it would be possible.
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I'm afraid I'll need some more details than that.
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Architectural Project Manager
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I'm sorry, I"m sure I answered this question months ago, I don' t know why it didn't post. The answer is there's no way to guess, a doctor would have to look at it. If there's no tissue, DNA might possibly be obtained from bones or teeth.
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It all depends on where you want to work and what they require. At the coroner's office we all had at least a bachelor's degree in a natural science like biology, because there were not any forensic degrees then. If you want to be a DNA analyst you will probably need to major in genetics or biochemistry. At the police department where I work, with our very small lab, we are only required to have a high school diploma--but you get extra points in the interview process for advanced degrees so we all have at least a bachelor's.Hope that helps.
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I'm very interested now in phone number 'spoofing' that the telephone scammers use to call us, but the technology is a little beyond my ken. Actually a lot beyond my ken. I have a co-worker who could explain it but we never have time.
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